Sony faced a setback in its campaign to control what software can run on its PlayStation 3 after hackers published one of the cryptographic keys that forms the core of the security scheme locking down the game console.

The so-called LV0 key, released by a crew calling itself "The Three Musketeers," grants access to the one of the most sensitive parts of the PS3. Its availability should make it easier for hackers and modders to work around restrictions Sony places on the console. The key can be used to decrypt future security updates Sony issues for the console and to incorporate those changes into custom firmware packages not authorized by the Japanese company. Sony has long discouraged the use of custom firmware by, among other things, blocking consoles that use them from connecting to the PlayStation Network.

The Three Musketeers said they discovered the LV0 key some time ago and only published it after a separate hacking group was using the code to build and sell its own custom firmware called BlueDiskCFW. Their post appears to be available here.

"You can be sure that if it wouldn’t have been for this leak, this key would never have seen the light of day," the group wrote in a note accompanying the key, according to a post published on Tuesday to PlayStationLifeStyle.net. "Only the fear of our work being used by others to make money out of it has forced us to release this now."

Release of the key is only the latest attack on a security regimen that many PS3 users took as an affront to their self-proclaimed what they argued is their right to use the console as they saw fit. Early efforts to seize control from Sony included PSJailbreak, which was a USB stick that allowed games to be fully installed to, and played from, the system's included hard drive. In late 2010, a group calling itself fail0verflow described ways work through the PS3's various security levels, which include a chain of trust, a hypervisor, and signed executables. The group ultimately located the ECDSA signature, a private cryptographic key the console uses to authorize high-level operations.

Working independently of the group, hacker George Hotz soon matched the fail0verflow feat by discovering and publicly releasing the metldr keys that could be used to trick the system into running unauthorized programs. Sony sued the New Jersey-based Hotz over the disclosure, but eventually agreed to drop the controversial lawsuit in exchange for promises he would curtail all future attempts to unlock the game console.

It remains unclear just how damaging the key's release will be to Sony's attempts to stop the running of pirated games and other types of unauthorized software on the PS3. Nate Lawson, a cryptographer and the principal of the Root Labs security consultancy, said the disclosure represents a setback for Sony in its attempt to control what end users can and can't do with the console.

"They're going to have to depend on obfuscation as their primary security measure to keep people from decrypting their updates," he told Ars. "It's a cat-and-mouse game that's now more closely in the favor of the attackers. But Sony has plenty of things they can still do. It's just another link in the chain."

Promoted Comments

We've gone way too far down the road of letting manufacturers dictate usage terms of people's devices. Whatever lets people take back control of their devices is a good thing.

I always found this argument funny only because after homebrewing my Wii I kind of actually [and sadly] get their point: people do this sh*t not to establish their right over their product, they simply do it to simply play hacked, modded games so they don't have to pay for it. And yes it's not 100% but I'm sure it's pretty close to that and yeah you CAN argue that games shouldn't be that much either. But people seem to ignore you wouldn't get good games like Borderlands, Elder Scrolls or Fallout without the budget that comes from what you pay AND even if they discounted the game you'd still be suckered into expansion maps, extra items, etc.

It's like buying a PC and the reality between the consumer and manufacturer is so distorted its like a play: Consumer: I want a PC that does it all!Manufacturer: So what did you want?Consumer: Oh wait I also want to spend as little as possible so is $300 good enough?Manufacturer: (really who the f**k is this d**k?) Sorry sir/ma'am it's gonna cost more...

That's who we are, we want to pay as little as possible and no I'm not white knighting when I say, just pay for your sh*t people and that's it. Do you really, honestly think Sony would be out to waste their money encrypting a system if they didn't think enough people were modding it to get their stuff for free? Hey I think theaters are over-priced but I just do the matinee for $5 instead of seeing it at night and paying $18.50.

...Ready for any "hitler" comments or flames lol~

Before you get downvoted to eternity, I'm just going to put it out there that I agree.

The "we can do what we want with _our_ hardware" argument has a modicum of merit to it; but the reality is, for every 1 Geo Hotz that wants to run Linux on his playstation and play GNUChess there are 20 people that will simply take the rootkit and use it to play pirated games.

We've gone way too far down the road of letting manufacturers dictate usage terms of people's devices. Whatever lets people take back control of their devices is a good thing.

I always found this argument funny only because after homebrewing my Wii I kind of actually [and sadly] get their point: people do this sh*t not to establish their right over their product, they simply do it to simply play hacked, modded games so they don't have to pay for it. And yes it's not 100% but I'm sure it's pretty close to that and yeah you CAN argue that games shouldn't be that much either. But people seem to ignore you wouldn't get good games like Borderlands, Elder Scrolls or Fallout without the budget that comes from what you pay AND even if they discounted the game you'd still be suckered into expansion maps, extra items, etc.

It's like buying a PC and the reality between the consumer and manufacturer is so distorted its like a play: Consumer: I want a PC that does it all!Manufacturer: So what did you want?Consumer: Oh wait I also want to spend as little as possible so is $300 good enough?Manufacturer: (really who the f**k is this d**k?) Sorry sir/ma'am it's gonna cost more...

That's who we are, we want to pay as little as possible and no I'm not white knighting when I say, just pay for your sh*t people and that's it. Do you really, honestly think Sony would be out to waste their money encrypting a system if they didn't think enough people were modding it to get their stuff for free? Hey I think theaters are over-priced but I just do the matinee for $5 instead of seeing it at night and paying $18.50.

...Ready for any "hitler" comments or flames lol~

Where your logic really fails is the part where Sony removes paid for features, not for the customers benefit, but to offset some made up reason as to why their games are not selling so well, (that may not be the real reason but it seems like it to me). I really don't like my property being stolen from me. I paid for my shit and Sony took it back. Where is the justice in that. And by the way, I don't remember being informed that an update would brick my system. Sony is receiving their justice.

As a Linux user, I never get this self entitlement argument everyone throws around.

When you buy computer hardware, it's yours, do with it as you want. If you want to clone the latest Linux kernel and build your own system level drivers, good for you!

When you buy a Playstation, Xbox, or Wii type of device, yes you own the hardware - you do NOT own the software. That is a license that allows you to run specific software (games) through YOUR hardware, in THEIR playground. If they want to change their playground, they can change it and you can cry about it all you want, but you are playing in their sandbox. You don't have the right to go in and mess with their software. You don't. You can try to justify it all you want by saying they changed their original promises so you should be able to get that back, but you only own a license to use that software, in whatever shape or form they give it to you as. That agreement you just press next, next, next, until you can play a game, yeah, it's in there.

Being able to load a second OS was a great middle ground. (Full access to all the hardware would have been nice, but still...)

The removal of the OtherOS occurred after Hotz posted proof of hacking the PS3OS.

Hacking the PS3 was not a justified reaction to it's removal.

Also - at the time of it's removal - it was extremely derided elsewhere and on this site for being a too expensive, slow and therefore barely useable linux box.

I don't think that is entirely factually correct.

Wikipedia mentions Hotz announced his efforts to hack PS3 in the end of 2009 while the non-otherOS slim ps3 was released in September 2009.

Sony removed otherOS from the fat ps3 in april 2010 after Hotz released a tool that used OtherOS and a hardware glitch to open up the console. He wanted to give otherOS full access to the graphics hardware and he achieved that albeit I wouldn't call that an easy way to run pirated games. It did not compromise sony's encryption keys either.Nonetheless, one could say that otheros was removed because the console got hacked.

Only after otheros was removed other groups started to crack the actual encryption keys. Hotz himself states that in an interview he gave to g4tv (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tG9r7cCpk_g).The keys were cracked first time in the end of 2010/ beginning of 2011. It is only then Sony got royally fucked - and it was a direct consequence of removing otherOS.

I totally have no problem with people using their devices in whatever way works for them, as long as they stay the fuck off the PSN. The network needs to be a sterile environment in order to allow a level playing field and minimize griefers ruining online gaming.

Why do you assume a rooted console means someone is cheating?

I doesn't assume that everyone with a rooted console will be cheating, but allowing rooted consoles on the same network makes cheating and griefing significantly more likely. And there are no shortage of people who WILL take advantage of it. Keep the environment and the accessing machines locked down and you minimize this.

The obvious solution to this is opening up the hardware for private use, but keeping binary authorization for access to the PSN. Then they make sure the PSN is the value proposition (like steam on PC) so that people actually want to use it and sony keeps their revenue stream while letting the few who want thinker free with their hardware (but unable to use PSN). I guarantee nobody with the knowledge to break the PSN access keys would feel the need to do it .This model works well on PC so I don't see why it wouln't be possible for PS. The console would become just an outlet for an online service.

We've gone way too far down the road of letting manufacturers dictate usage terms of people's devices. Whatever lets people take back control of their devices is a good thing.

Great Comment !!! The gear I personally own allows me to do what I want and is not the kind of gear that would feature Locked Down Stuff.I stay away from that, DRM, and my Library of Stuff is large and all physical Based.I can Will my Awesome Collection of Rarities to my Son !

I actually would use this to play PS2 games, not to allow unauthorized games or other Operating Systems. >_>

Sorry, PS2 games on a PS3 are only available on the initial two releases. The first had a chip to enable PS2 emulation and the second had software system to perform that emulation.

That's interesting. In the diagram provided to this article you can see the lower box numbered 2 that it has a bunch of PS2 emulator related items. Is the diagram old, or is the PS2 software emulator still in the PS3 systems and just disabled in some way? It would be awesome if one could re-enable the PS2 emulation again.

Even the more software driven PS2 emulation required additional hardware. The original PS3 models provided both a PS2 CPU and GPU. The second PS3 model only provided the PS2 GPU with the CPU being emulated. thus even if you were to unlock the PS2 emulation software, it'd still require a hardware component not found inside PS3 for the past several years.

Are you sure? As far as I was aware, the European consoles were pure software emulation, no PS2 parts included. It was just the NA console which had the hardware parts. This was why the EU console was worse at emulation than the NA one

We've gone way too far down the road of letting manufacturers dictate usage terms of people's devices. Whatever lets people take back control of their devices is a good thing.

I always found this argument funny only because after homebrewing my Wii I kind of actually [and sadly] get their point: people do this sh*t not to establish their right over their product, they simply do it to simply play hacked, modded games so they don't have to pay for it. And yes it's not 100% but I'm sure it's pretty close to that and yeah you CAN argue that games shouldn't be that much either. But people seem to ignore you wouldn't get good games like Borderlands, Elder Scrolls or Fallout without the budget that comes from what you pay AND even if they discounted the game you'd still be suckered into expansion maps, extra items, etc.

It's like buying a PC and the reality between the consumer and manufacturer is so distorted its like a play: Consumer: I want a PC that does it all!Manufacturer: So what did you want?Consumer: Oh wait I also want to spend as little as possible so is $300 good enough?Manufacturer: (really who the f**k is this d**k?) Sorry sir/ma'am it's gonna cost more...

That's who we are, we want to pay as little as possible and no I'm not white knighting when I say, just pay for your sh*t people and that's it. Do you really, honestly think Sony would be out to waste their money encrypting a system if they didn't think enough people were modding it to get their stuff for free? Hey I think theaters are over-priced but I just do the matinee for $5 instead of seeing it at night and paying $18.50.

...Ready for any "hitler" comments or flames lol~

Where your logic really fails is the part where Sony removes paid for features, not for the customers benefit, but to offset some made up reason as to why their games are not selling so well, (that may not be the real reason but it seems like it to me). I really don't like my property being stolen from me. I paid for my shit and Sony took it back. Where is the justice in that. And by the way, I don't remember being informed that an update would brick my system. Sony is receiving their justice.

I actually would use this to play PS2 games, not to allow unauthorized games or other Operating Systems. >_>

Sorry, PS2 games on a PS3 are only available on the initial two releases. The first had a chip to enable PS2 emulation and the second had software system to perform that emulation.

That's interesting. In the diagram provided to this article you can see the lower box numbered 2 that it has a bunch of PS2 emulator related items. Is the diagram old, or is the PS2 software emulator still in the PS3 systems and just disabled in some way? It would be awesome if one could re-enable the PS2 emulation again.

Even the more software driven PS2 emulation required additional hardware. The original PS3 models provided both a PS2 CPU and GPU. The second PS3 model only provided the PS2 GPU with the CPU being emulated. thus even if you were to unlock the PS2 emulation software, it'd still require a hardware component not found inside PS3 for the past several years.

Are you sure? As far as I was aware, the European consoles were pure software emulation, no PS2 parts included. It was just the NA console which had the hardware parts. This was why the EU console was worse at emulation than the NA one

You're correct. I have a UK launch PS3 and it doesn't have (all) the PS2 hardware in it. It played fewer PS2 games than my brother's US launch PS3.

We've gone way too far down the road of letting manufacturers dictate usage terms of people's devices. Whatever lets people take back control of their devices is a good thing.

While I agree in general (I have a particular dislike for Sony in this area), I can see that there should be some restrictions on things like online multiplayer. It'd be no fair if half of the online crowd was cheating.

Still, Sony deserves whatever they get, especially for actually taking such a stupid case to court.

We've gone way too far down the road of letting manufacturers dictate usage terms of people's devices. Whatever lets people take back control of their devices is a good thing.

I always found this argument funny only because after homebrewing my Wii I kind of actually [and sadly] get their point: people do this sh*t not to establish their right over their product, they simply do it to simply play hacked, modded games so they don't have to pay for it. And yes it's not 100% but I'm sure it's pretty close to that and yeah you CAN argue that games shouldn't be that much either. But people seem to ignore you wouldn't get good games like Borderlands, Elder Scrolls or Fallout without the budget that comes from what you pay AND even if they discounted the game you'd still be suckered into expansion maps, extra items, etc.

It's like buying a PC and the reality between the consumer and manufacturer is so distorted its like a play: Consumer: I want a PC that does it all!Manufacturer: So what did you want?Consumer: Oh wait I also want to spend as little as possible so is $300 good enough?Manufacturer: (really who the f**k is this d**k?) Sorry sir/ma'am it's gonna cost more...

That's who we are, we want to pay as little as possible and no I'm not white knighting when I say, just pay for your sh*t people and that's it. Do you really, honestly think Sony would be out to waste their money encrypting a system if they didn't think enough people were modding it to get their stuff for free? Hey I think theaters are over-priced but I just do the matinee for $5 instead of seeing it at night and paying $18.50.

...Ready for any "hitler" comments or flames lol~

Well, your argument has merit only if we lived in a perfect world. Music companies (SONY was one of them), colluded for 6 years to control pricing and then were caught and made to pay a few measly dollars back to the customers. Microsoft was a perfect example of a monopoly that controlled the PC market for decades, so who knows how many good products never saw the light of day because of that. Apple and a few book publishers are fighting the government for the right to have their own monopoly on books.

Corporations answer to their stakeholders and not their customers. Prices are inflated, fixed, and artificially manipulated in the market place every day. If you believe that we should all pay our fair share, then the product must also be fairly priced.

That doesn't mean that piracy is the answer, however, it also doesn't give SONY the right to put Cinavia on my PS3 preventing me from viewing my digital copy of TinTin (I own the BluRay) which my son loves.

Hi Dan, as someone else pointed out, in the sentence where you crossed out 'their self-proclaimed' you come off as being rude. Dimishing a rational argument is hardely objective reporting. If you fail to see the point, what would you say if I started out this post simiarly? Let's see.

Hi Dan, you fucking idiot, as someone else pointed out.... woops, scratch 'you fucking idiot.' (the insult was increased to show the point, but even a milder insult is still more unprofessional than Ars has ever been). In the future, if you notice an error that you have made, it's better to just get rid of it.

Save the crossing our for important things like *facts* that may have been initially wrong. No one should berate you for catching an incorrect fact and leaving it in, but corrected (for archival and search purposes). Ideally insulting a group you disagree with shouldn't even happen, but if it does, apologize and get rid of it (actually I haven't seen an apology about this).

Be respectful to your audiance sir, even the small portion you don't fully agree with. Past Ars reporters have usually done this very well and it's part of why I used to love this site.

Hi Zeroedout,

I crossed out the words because it retrospect I realized I hadn't phrased them as carefully as I would have liked to. Things like that usually happen not because I'm biased one way or the other, but because I have 45 minutes to write a fairly complex article with a lot of nuances.

I didn't want to remove the words completely lest someone think I was trying to white wash my words and pretend they never happened.

I try to be respectful of my audience, although given the abuse I've received multiple times from people sending me emails and addressing me in comments, I've stopped participating regularly in discussions with readers. I'd caution you not to make assumptions where my sympathies in this case lie or guess what readers I do and don't fully agree with.

All in all its worth it to be able to customize your unit tho you lose the ability to go online with the unit for obvious reasons. They might as well make most of the unit open/unprotected tho make sure online gaming is very locked up it might void the warranty if you use custom firmware for offline stuff. Least you do not have to waste time with pointless protection schemes you have to update...

This makes me wonder exactly what Sony's response will be, other than the aforementioned firmware update. They can't seem to get a break, but then again............strong arm tactics like suing George Hotz really pissed off some of the worst kind of people.

This seems to be more of a Streisand effect now than anything. It's going to keep getting broken, once they tried to tighten that grip.

Except in this case, the people who were exploiting the code seem to be doing it merely for monetary gain, not out of any sense of moral outrage. Seems to me to be pretty indicative of the scene in general.

Hey sony, if you'd give people the keys to boot their own stuff, there probably wouldn't be so much work on getting other keys that would actually let people do things like pirate.

Sony tried that, it was called OtherOS, and people just used it to attack the closed parts of the system.

After Sony pulled OtherOS from future firmware updates.

No, go back and follow the OtherOS news from when the PS3 release, like I was. At first, people complained that they didn't have direct access to the graphics hardware, so they started exploring ways to get past the hypervisor to get that. Sony said "no yuo!" and closed that hole with a firmware update, and had to do it again several times as the hackers kept pushing. Finally the hackers gave up on trying to openly get at the graphics hardware, went underground, and started attacking the hypervisor directly.

Sony dared hackers to crack open the PS3 when they pulled their (yet another) crap-on-the-customer stunt by, as has been mentioned, removing features paid for by folks who purchased the PS3.

The hackability of systems is the *only* reason for my purchase of many devices: PSP, Wii, NDS, iPod Touch. But mainly for the fun of actually unlocking the system, not so I could install unauthorized copies of programs and games. In addition to UI hacks, I boot all of my Wii games from a USB hard drive--but they're my games; I still have the discs. I just really like the load times and I enjoy selecting a game from my customized on-screen interface.

I'm a firm believer in the "it's my hardware I can do whatever I want with it" - take the Apple TV for instance. This is a devices that quite reasonably should be able to play all of your media files but doesn't ONLY because Apple doesn't see it as profitable and they deliberately take steps so that people CANNOT modify it (i.e. they spend resources locking users out). Many manufacturers have become so ruthless in their business models that there is often a tremendous amount of quality and product integrity loss. Just look at how warranties are changing - on top of being inconvenienced by a faulty product, manufacturers are making you spend 1-2 hours on the phone troubleshooting your hardware just to to get an RMA number for you to spend cash to send it back in. And this is making retailers able to double-dip in your wallet by selling not just "extended" warranties, but supplemental warranties, because they know how frustrating it is to deal with and increasing number of manufacturers (Apple included). This is manufacturer integrity-loss. Now how about the issue of crappy capacitors that plagues so many electronic devices? This is a glowing example of how a tremendous amount of quality has been sacrificed for god only knows how little money. The problem is so pervasive and so simple to fix, yet manufacturers, you would think, value more how short the lifespan is of their products than how long it is, priceless because it's MORE profitable, in the long run, to build devices with the absolutely minimum amount of quality and lifespan. Manufacturers have the right to build and charge whatever they want, support however they want, and owner-users should have every right to use and dispose of their property however they wish. This turned into a rant, but hopefully you get the idea. If there is any honor and integrity left to be found in big business, I don't know where it is - so what you're left with is a big gamble with your dollars and your right to do whatever you want with the product that you have traded for it.

Sony dared hackers to crack open the PS3 when they pulled their (yet another) crap-on-the-customer stunt by, as has been mentioned, removing features paid for by folks who purchased the PS3.

The hackability of systems is the *only* reason for my purchase of many devices: PSP, Wii, NDS, iPod Touch. But mainly for the fun of actually unlocking the system, not so I could install unauthorized copies of programs and games. In addition to UI hacks, I boot all of my Wii games from a USB hard drive--but they're my games; I still have the discs. I just really like the load times and I enjoy selecting a game from my customized on-screen interface.

That's nice and understandable and of course other people's actions aren't our responsibility, which is the infuriating part of, "this is why we can't have nice things". We want them to be responsible, but that's the extent of our justice.

I actually would use this to play PS2 games, not to allow unauthorized games or other Operating Systems. >_>

Sorry, PS2 games on a PS3 are only available on the initial two releases. The first had a chip to enable PS2 emulation and the second had software system to perform that emulation.

Not quite. The first generation US and Japanese PS3s actually had the entire PS2 chipset in them, the second genereation US and Japanese/first EU generation had the graphics chip from the PS2, since it is incredibly difficult to emulate due to a highly unique architecture that had extreme bandwidth.

The reason only a handful of PS2 games have been released as PSN downloads is due to having to tweak the emulation for each game and the games themselves needing to be able to run in the emulator as closely as possible to how they did on the PS2.

The hackability of systems is the *only* reason for my purchase of many devices

+1

The ability to use otheros on my ps3 was a major reason I bought it. Having a fully functional computer that could run mythbuntu or xbmc as a full featured media center pc (instead of only the few codecs sony decides to support on ps3) was a huge part of the draw.

Is it possible for Sony to change the key, or will that break already released software?

Ars Staff: koolrap has a great question and I'd like to hear the replies, but the replies are not 'in line' so I have to hunt for them. This is a serious defect in the Ars commenting system and I hope you will rectify it. Thanks in advance.

Is it possible for Sony to change the key, or will that break already released software?

Ars Staff: koolrap has a great question and I'd like to hear the replies, but the replies are not 'in line' so I have to hunt for them. This is a serious defect in the Ars commenting system and I hope you will rectify it. Thanks in advance.

Is it possible for Sony to change the key, or will that break already released software?

Ars Staff: koolrap has a great question and I'd like to hear the replies, but the replies are not 'in line' so I have to hunt for them. This is a serious defect in the Ars commenting system and I hope you will rectify it. Thanks in advance.

I think it's very reasonable for Sony to be gunshy about complete strangers gaining access to their sensitive regions!

Ragnarredbeard wrote:

Totally agree. When I buy a couch the furniture store doesn't care if I put my feet on it or spill coffee on it. A PS3 or any other device is no different. My money = my toy = do what I want with it.

Amen. I try to make all my electronics purchases based on the ability to actually own/control what happens on the device. The PS3 was/is borderline on that but I was sold on being able to install Linux, although I never got around to it and then they locked it down.

This moving from selling a product to selling a locked down service delivery platform is a growing and disturbing trend as people look to the walled gardens for "ease of use" over "freedom of use".

We've gone way too far down the road of letting manufacturers dictate usage terms of people's devices. Whatever lets people take back control of their devices is a good thing.

Totally agree. When I buy a couch the furniture store doesn't care if I put my feet on it or spill coffee on it. A PS3 or any other device is no different. My money = my toy = do what I want with it.

Right up until you try to take it onto Sony's network.

Has anyone here actually voiced a desire to use a hacked console to play online on the psn? No? I don't think that is an unreasonable limitation... after all you haven't bought their online world... there you really are licensing it.

I find this "Release of the key is only the latest attack on a security regimen that many PS3 users took as an affront to their self-proclaimed right to use the console as they saw fit." Offensive.

It is a piece of hardware, you buy it, you own it. since when does a company maintain any property rights in the hardware they have sold? and it is a sale, not a rental or a lease. Of course you should have the right to use it as you see fit. It is not self proclaimed when it is the status quo that has been generally accepted for property for thousands of years, It is a realistic expectation of a purchase that a greedy and control hungry company wants to avoid.

You don't have the right to use any piece of hardware you buy as you'd like. You can't run people over in your car, you can't use your computer to break into other systems, and you can't shine your pen laser into an airplane window. There are plenty of different types of hardware you can buy that come with restrictions on their usage. So yes, it is a "self proclaimed right" and nothing more.

We've gone way too far down the road of letting manufacturers dictate usage terms of people's devices. Whatever lets people take back control of their devices is a good thing.

I always found this argument funny only because after homebrewing my Wii I kind of actually [and sadly] get their point: people do this sh*t not to establish their right over their product, they simply do it to simply play hacked, modded games so they don't have to pay for it. And yes it's not 100% but I'm sure it's pretty close to that and yeah you CAN argue that games shouldn't be that much either. But people seem to ignore you wouldn't get good games like Borderlands, Elder Scrolls or Fallout without the budget that comes from what you pay AND even if they discounted the game you'd still be suckered into expansion maps, extra items, etc.

It's like buying a PC and the reality between the consumer and manufacturer is so distorted its like a play: Consumer: I want a PC that does it all!Manufacturer: So what did you want?Consumer: Oh wait I also want to spend as little as possible so is $300 good enough?Manufacturer: (really who the f**k is this d**k?) Sorry sir/ma'am it's gonna cost more...

That's who we are, we want to pay as little as possible and no I'm not white knighting when I say, just pay for your sh*t people and that's it. Do you really, honestly think Sony would be out to waste their money encrypting a system if they didn't think enough people were modding it to get their stuff for free? Hey I think theaters are over-priced but I just do the matinee for $5 instead of seeing it at night and paying $18.50.

...Ready for any "hitler" comments or flames lol~

Before you get downvoted to eternity, I'm just going to put it out there that I agree.

The "we can do what we want with _our_ hardware" argument has a modicum of merit to it; but the reality is, for every 1 Geo Hotz that wants to run Linux on his playstation and play GNUChess there are 20 people that will simply take the rootkit and use it to play pirated games.

And if those people are that comfortable with playing pirated games, chances are they wouldn't have bought them anyway, so they don't actually translate into lost sales. Yeah, I hacked my Wii, but I only have copies on my USB stick of the games I actually own. When you have small children it is nice to just load games onto the usb and lock the wii away, never to be seen (or covered in jelly, scratched, or knocked over) again.

Can anyone tell me, will this enable cfw to be installed on more than what is possible currently? I would love to hack a ps3, I have one sitting here collecting dust in a closet.

Yes. There is already an updated 4.21 CFW floating around that allows you to copy newer games and play them without resigning EBOOTs. You will need to be on 3.55 or lower to use it though or you are out of luck. I wouldn't hurry to use it yet though, there are reports of bricking your PS3 so unless you have a hardware flasher I would stay away from it. People will work out the kinks. Supposedly they will be able to make CFW up to 4.30 now but we will see.

Please note I am not condoning piracy. I have the 3.55 CFW installed on my PS3, but I only use it for all the emulators and old games libraries which I can easily run in my living room with a decent controller. Therefore I have no reason to update to a newer CFW.

I find this "Release of the key is only the latest attack on a security regimen that many PS3 users took as an affront to their self-proclaimed right to use the console as they saw fit." Offensive.

It is a piece of hardware, you buy it, you own it. since when does a company maintain any property rights in the hardware they have sold? and it is a sale, not a rental or a lease. Of course you should have the right to use it as you see fit. It is not self proclaimed when it is the status quo that has been generally accepted for property for thousands of years, It is a realistic expectation of a purchase that a greedy and control hungry company wants to avoid.

You don't have the right to use any piece of hardware you buy as you'd like. You can't run people over in your car, you can't use your computer to break into other systems, and you can't shine your pen laser into an airplane window. There are plenty of different types of hardware you can buy that come with restrictions on their usage. So yes, it is a "self proclaimed right" and nothing more.

I have to disagree. All your examples are conflicting usage with legality, so throw in the caveat that we have the right to use hardware as we like within the boundaries of the law, not within a corporation's whims.

Retroactively revoking abilities of a console after purchase, using a remote connection to an ebook reader to delete content, etc should not be acceptable behavior without the user's consent. If I bought a product with x capabilities, and it's later changed to have less than the advertised capabilities, I think that should be illegal.

We've gone way too far down the road of letting manufacturers dictate usage terms of people's devices. Whatever lets people take back control of their devices is a good thing.

I always found this argument funny only because after home-brewing my Wii I kind of actually [and sadly] get their point: people do this sh*t not to establish their right over their product, they simply do it to simply play hacked, modded games so they don't have to pay for it. And yes it's not 100% but I'm sure it's pretty close to that and yeah you CAN argue that games shouldn't be that much either. But people seem to ignore you wouldn't get good games like Borderlands, Elder Scrolls or Fallout without the budget that comes from what you pay AND even if they discounted the game you'd still be suckered into expansion maps, extra items, etc.

It's like buying a PC and the reality between the consumer and manufacturer is so distorted its like a play: Consumer: I want a PC that does it all!Manufacturer: So what did you want?Consumer: Oh wait I also want to spend as little as possible so is $300 good enough?Manufacturer: (really who the f**k is this d**k?) Sorry sir/ma'am it's gonna cost more...

That's who we are, we want to pay as little as possible and no I'm not white knighting when I say, just pay for your sh*t people and that's it. Do you really, honestly think Sony would be out to waste their money encrypting a system if they didn't think enough people were modding it to get their stuff for free? Hey I think theaters are over-priced but I just do the matinee for $5 instead of seeing it at night and paying $18.50.

...Ready for any "hitler" comments or flames lol~

Before you get downvoted to eternity, I'm just going to put it out there that I agree.

The "we can do what we want with _our_ hardware" argument has a modicum of merit to it; but the reality is, for every 1 Geo Hotz that wants to run Linux on his playstation and play GNUChess there are 20 people that will simply take the rootkit and use it to play pirated games.

Well - it's funny how your argument only ever jumps to hackers feeling the need to have full control of a product they purchased.

For example - earlier models allowed for a full independent install of Linux running concurrently with the installed Sony content. In a mandatory update and randomly on a whim with little to no explanation - Sony felt they had the right to simply remove that fully advertised feature - then ban anyone from their network that tried to circumvent a legally purchased device that contained that option.

So those research groups that purchased PS3s in lieu of full blown tower clusters for a cheaper and more powerful Linux box - or those home brewers that did the same were now tossed out in the cold on their duffs because Sony felt like it.

Another example - early models allowed for backward compatibility w/ PS2 games. A mandatory update removed that option. This again was an advertised feature and selling point for the early consoles.

Both were removed at a point where the original purchases fell out of warranty - so Sony felt like they no longer had to support it.

Hate slam on your ego trip - but this is in direct violation of false advertisement laws in the US. I am actually surprised that Sony did not get hit with any significant lawsuits as a result of either situation.

These arguments do in fact carry over to things like the iPhone - I should as a customer purchasing a product be allowed to do what ever I want to - within the local laws - with my product. Now - Apple should be coding their phones to segregate out functions such as the core system and the telephony from the rest of the device - then allow us to install what ever we feel like.

The argument for either Apple or Sony is not always about hacking. I personally do not feel like being dictated to that I must have some company's approval to use my product.

What if Ford told you how you could drive your car - where you could drive it - where you could get gas - where you had to go for maintenance - and that if on a whim it felt like forcing you back to the dealer to remove your stereo-system or GPS Navigation that it could ? Or hell - it felt like remotely wiping your Nav system - and there was nothing you could do about it.

But yeah you both are right - its all and always and only about hacking illegally. NOt anything to do with people being curious or using the capabilities of the hardware for other legitimate purposes.

You two are probably also the same trolls that cry foul or only the illegal Users for technologies such as Torrents I bet.

Educate yourselves on both sides of a topic before you insert your feet in your mouth and show your asses with a one-sided biased weak ass argument.